Rs 3,000 Crores Needed To Ramp Up Vaccine Production: Adar Poonawalla

India has administered around 8.3 crore vaccine doses since the drive began on January 16, the Health Ministry said at a briefing on Tuesday evening

The Serum Institute - manufacturers of the Covishield vaccine - needs around Rs 3,000 crore and three months to scale up production, CEO Adar Poonawalla told NDTV Tuesday evening, as a second wave of coronavirus infections threatens to overwhelm the country, and the centre faces calls to make more doses available, and widen the vaccination net, to contain the virus. Mr Poonawalla, who said in January that the SII had agreed to supply the first 10 crore doses at heavily subsidised rates, said today that the company had make bigger profits than it was now, so it could "reinvest in the production line and facilities" and be able to make more doses quickly. "We are supplying the vaccine in the Indian market at approximately Rs 150-160. The average price of the vaccine is approximately $20 (Rs 1,500)... because of the Modi government's request, we are providing vaccines at subsidised rates... It is not that we are not making profits... but we are not making a super profit, which is key to reinvesting," Mr Poonawalla told NDTV. "This (the amount needed) would be roughly Rs 3,000 crores. The process takes 85 days, so it would be just under three months before we scale up operations," he added.